Renovating bathrooms

With the right person you should be able to get them done with extremely nice tiles and fixtures
including new bathtubs and toilets and faucet sets, for under $10,000

the biggest issue with your budget is how much insurance your coop/condo requires. some of them require so much that it may cost $5K+ just for that.

rb's estimate is, in my experience, a pipe-dream. Next to impossible in any sane way to do reno including new fixtures AND TUB for $5K in nyc. More likely cost on very tight budget is $10K per bath for near gut renovations. Easily could be twice or triple that, but if every nickel is counted and corner cut, you could win an award for budget-renos if you come in at $10K each.

Hire a contractor who comes highly recommended by friends/neighbors/super whose references are impeccable. Go to see a couple of his past jobs. Otherwise you are falling into a $$ abyss.

I was thinking about rb345's estimate. It just makes no sense to me and I want to be clear why I think it is misleading.

Sink: $100
Toilet: $300
Medicine chest: $250
Faucets sink: $100
Faucets shower: $100
Showerhead: $50
Thermostatic shower valve: $250
Drain assembly: $50
Toilet and sink hook ups: $50
Towel bars, hooks and accessories: $200
Tub: $500
Lights: $100
Tiles: $300

This total is $2150 for JUST these necessary materials/fixtures. The prices are estimates based on the cheapest stuff available at Home Depot and utterly unrealistic if you want a mid-level reno. This all being said, if you think you can get the labor portion done for $2850 then we live on different planets. Electricians and plumbers charge a lot. Demo removal isn't free either. My point is just go into this with a realistic budget so you are happy at the end of the job and not defeated by frustration and a feeling of disappointment everytime you look at the result.

UES buyer, the labor + permits alone will be around $20K, if you're lucky and there's no underlying issues. And there usually are a lot of them.

I redid my bathroom, standard size, from a gut....contractor charged 6k for the work spent about another 4k at Home Depot. I'm extremely thrilled. No idea what people are doing for 30K but I guess you shit gold.

Also, for what it's worth here are two pictures I just took with my crappy cell phone camera

http://yfrog.com/20img00009201004291909j
http://yfrog.com/euimg00011201004291910j

If you want more info let me know.

uri, do you live in a co-op?

oh..nope, sorry. condo. if that makes a huge difference color me red :)

i'm guessing your condo does not require a crazy insurance policy... lucky you

what's a crazy insurance policy? there were definitely requirements, i don't remember off the top of my head though.

i know about brooklyn and that's $1M policy that runs as little as $500 for no plumbing/electric work to about $3/4K. on UES, i'd expect the requirements to much higher.

I did a gut reno and I don't know what all this insurance talk is aobut. Whatever that expense was it was negligible. The labor is what costs. Yes, $10K is do-able. Per room. That's what I said up top. But that is the least you'll get away with. Any kind of more intricate tile work than 12x12" tiles costs $. Tiled shower stall including floor (no tub) cost money. Nickel plated faucets and rain shower with thermostatic valve costs $$$. Toto toilet and Duravit sinks and the like cost $$. A light can cost $20 or $800+. There are lots of ways to spend on a bathrrom. To each his own. No need for insulting the jewel-box looks of highend baths or the simpler clean lines of a fresh more affordable job. But $5K is silly. Not doable in a coop.

kylewest -

that's why i always laughed when a broker was showing me a co-op that didn't have a W/D, but 'the board will let you put one in'. As if that meant just paying $2k to Grainger. Add up the permits, plans, expediter, electrician, plumber, approvals, leak-proofing, sensors, etc. and it could easily cost another $10k.